Missing Woman’s Boyfriend Charged With Blowing Up Their House

JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) — A missing Will County woman’s boyfriend has been arrested on arson charges for allegedly blowing up their house in July.

Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas said Will County Sheriff’s police obtained a warrant Friday after learning James J. Borg, 44, was expected to be released from the hospital.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Borg was walking out of the Rehab Institute of Chicago, 345 E. Superior St. in Chicago, when deputies arrested him on three counts of aggravated arson and one count of residential arson, Kaupas said. Bond has been set at $750,000.

Borg had been in medical care since the July 14 explosion that leveled 135 Southeast Circle Drive, in unincorporated Will County, near Joliet. Borg suffered burns over 70 percent of his body and was initially taken to the burn unit at Loyola Medical Center.

Police and the state fire marshal have determined the gas line to the clothes dryer was cut and the valve was left open when Borg’s rented home went up in flames. No one besides Borg was at the home, but four people were inside the house next door.

“This was no accident,” Kaupas said following the blaze.

Borg was reportedly “very despondent” when he was visited hours earlier. He is considered a suspect in the disappearance of Anne Gay, 52, a waitress who has not been heard from since June 10.

“The investigation remains open, but there have been no developments since the arrest to rule him out as a suspect,” Kaupas confirmed Tuesday.

Coworkers became concerned when Gay failed to show up for her shifts at Louis’ Restaurant and asked police to check on her. Gay’s daughter Kimberly Dore said that after the police left Borg called her to say he hadn’t seen her mother for a week. Dore filed a missing persons report. Borg and Gay had been living together since shortly after meeting last year.

Kaupas described the couple’s relationship as “contentious,” noting deputies were called for 13 domestic disputes since January, the last one hours before Gay made her last known phone calls to friends.

Borg has a pending sentencing after being found guilty of threatening to kill a neighbor and reckless driving during an incident in September 2012.